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Animal Abandonment 

Imagine yourself walking casually on the streets. With the corner of your eye you spot a shivering creature laying beside a streetlight. Out of curiosity, you sneaked closer and you noticed a chihuahua's tangled fur and bony ribs. A half-torn collar was dangling on its neck with a nearly invisible dial number written on it. You tried to call the number several times but only got the same cold response “The number you dialed does not exist.” At that moment, you realized that you’re facing an abandoned animal, and that tragic incident is not uncommon.


Indeed, animal abandonment is a serious issue. Statistics in Jacqueline Shaheen’s article in the New York Times have shown “146,395 animals, mostly dogs or cats, were impounded in 1986,” and more startling, “more than half were destroyed (The New York Times, 1988.)” Over three decades, the situation has severely worsened. Just in one local shelter in the US, 1,016,455 calls were reported in 2020. Sadly, not all abandoned pets are able to reach an animal shelter, but even if they do, the toxic pain of being without their beloved pet feeder slowly kills them. Deb Jarrett, one of the most dedicated animal activists, who runs Dharamsala Animal Rescue in India, strongly called out the harsh reality in “Animal Abandonment: It’s just not Okay”. The abandoned animals are “dying a slow painful death, waiting for their owners to come back (Deb Jarret, 2018.)” Animals may be left confused and even injured at first. They would wonder what they did wrong and would think the owner is punishing them by abandoning them. Other than dying slowly in pain at the animal shelter, some owners even tie their dogs to trees, benches, or bins. This makes them not only confused but may also starve to death.



Some readers might click on their tongue and find it hard to emphasize because they have witnessed how violent the abandoned animals can be. It is true that domestic pets still follow the “hunting instinct” for food, according to Katie Lorincz, the director of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Middlesex County. But the fact is that “it's not as good as if it had been out there when it was little (The New York Times, 1988.)” and they cannot feed themselves. It is a big possibility that the pet you abandon dies in a week due to starvation or malnutrition. In short, if you opt out from the ownership without any plan B for them, they die. The only reason why people find abandoned animals extremely violent is because they may be “food aggressive,” explained by Jarret, due to a long time not being fed. They will think that any person or another animal that comes close to their food is trying to steal it, which causes them to become violent to anyone who tries to be near them while they are eating. Food violence may have made these abandoned animals even harder to find food alone. It is possible that their uncontrollable behavior scared away people that may have wanted to help them.



Moreover, I’d plead for people who are cold about “animal’s rights” to understand the issue is actually about you. Animal abandonment is not just a public agenda. Your body is a battleground. Your health might fail. Abandoned animals may carry viruses with them due to not taking baths or healthcare for a long time. Taking the rabies virus, one of the most viral diseases a stray dog may pass down to humans, for example. It is transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal and causes weakness or discomfort. These symptoms may last for days till the virus multiplies rapidly and causes severe inflammation of the brain and spinal cord after which the person deteriorates and dies. However, we shouldn’t blame animals for causing these issues. We made our bad decisions, risking our health. As Francois Meslin, who heads the zoonotic diseases team of the World Health Organization and interviewed by Deutsche Welle, stated that animal abandonment is “a problem associated with a lack of responsible dog ownership” and requires some “long-term efforts” to completely deal with the issue.



Now, let me kindly remind you of the chihuahua with tangled fur and bony ribs again. Just like the poor thing, millions of abandoned animals were left confused and hurt. Violence was shown due to starvation and desperation. Viruses harassed his life and ours. Death loomed over him. Shelters were overcrowded. Loneliness killed. They are not your toys. Each of them is a life. We shall save a life.